Following the catastrophic explosion that happened in Abule Ado, Festac Areas of Lagos State on Sunday, residents have been urged to stop building houses and properties on pipelines Right of Way (RoW) by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
In a statement released, the National President of the association, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, empathised with the victims while also calling for appropriate actions to be taken by the general public.
He said that efforts must be made by the government to curb the incessant explosion in the area while appealing to authorities to get to the root of incessant explosions in the area.
Okoronkwo’s words: “This tragedy should not have happened. Those who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident did not deserve to die so gruesomely. I strongly condemn this incident and l commiserate with families and relations of those who died.
“In their memories and in order to avert similar occurrence in the future, the authorities must get to the root of this incident and curb the incessant explosion in the area.
“All those who had a hand in this explosion, including those who acted in ways to put lives at risk and hard-earned possessions in jeopardy, must be punished, no matter how highly-placed they maybe.”
Speaking further, the IPMAN President commended the prompt response of the NNPC Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari on his assurances regarding removing all structures on the NNPC pipeline right of way across the country to prevent such incidents in future.
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Nairametrics had reported when the NNPC released a statement explaining the cause of the explosion. The NNPC stated that preliminary investigations revealed that a truck had rammed into some cylinders that were stacked in the gas processing plant that was located close to the NNPC’s system 2B Pipeline Right of Way.
The explosion left at least 50 houses destroyed. Many cars were also left damaged, even as an average of 15 people lost their lives, unfortunately.
